Pietsch, Paul, 1929-

Paul A. Pietsch was a Professor in the School of Optometry and an Adjunct Professor of Anatomy at Indiana University from 1970 until his retirement in 1994. His research concentrated on the connections between the brain, mind, and memory, as well as limb regeneration.

From the description of Paul A. Pietsch papers, 1951-2008, bulk 1961-1994. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 697532171

Paul A. Pietsch was born in New York City in 1929. He left high school in the 10th grade and joined the Army in 1946. He served in Japan until 1949 and in the Korean conflict in 1951. He earned his GED while in the Army and credited the GI Bill for providing him with an education. Pietsch earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Syracuse University in 1954 and a PhD in anatomy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1960.

Pietsch went on to work as an instructor in anatomy at Wake Forest College and an assistant professor of anatomy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. From 1964-1970, he worked as a research physiologist and senior research molecular biologist at Dow Chemical. Pietsch began his career at Indiana University as an Associate Professor of Optometry in 1970 and became a full professor in 1978. In 1980 he also became an Adjunct Professor of Anatomy in the Medical Sciences Program. He served as the chairperson of the Department of Basic Health Sciences in the School of Optometry from 1975-1983. He retired in 1994.

Pietsch’s primary research interests were limb regeneration and the relationship between the brain and the mind. His article “Shuffle Brain”, which explores amphibian brain transplants to determine the connections between the brain and memory, was published in Harper’s in 1972. It was awarded the 1972 Medical Journalism Award by the American Medical Association. Pietsch’s research for “Shuffle Brain” was also featured on the television program “60 Minutes” in August of 1973.

After his retirement in 1994, Pietsch remained active through his award winning website http://www.indiana.edu/~pietsch (access to the website can be attained through the Archives Archive-It collection at http://wayback.archive-it.org/219/*/http://www.indiana.edu/~pietsch/home.html) . Dr. Pietsch passed away on November 26, 2009.

From the guide to the Paul A. Pietsch papers, 1951-2008, bulk 1961-1994, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)